Ellen Gray: Plenty of TV shows are premiering for summer season

JUNE WASN'T nearly the TV dead zone it once would have been, but the summer season really heats up this month.

Yes, just as your DVR was probably looking forward to a nap.

Here are a few shows to think about waking it up for:

* BBC America's "The Choir." Those of you missing Fox's "Glee" might find something to smile about in this series in which the energetic Gareth Malone - who looks more than a bit like David Tennant's younger brother - takes Britons of all ages who didn't know they could sing (turns out they don't all sound like Susan Boyle) and turns them into a harmonious whole.

Think "Glee's" club is an underdog? Malone's first challenge is to form a choir in a school that doesn't even have a music program and to get its young singers ready to perform in an international competition in China in less than a year. Premieres: 10 p.m. Wednesday.

* Syfy's "Haven." Hard-core Stephen King fans may recognize this one from his novella "The Colorado Kid." Set in a small town in Maine where people who might not fit in well outside its foggy borders seem to find a measure of safety, "Haven" stars Emily Rose ("ER") as FBI agent Audrey Parker, who's sent to the town to investigate a murder and finds she may have reason to stay awhile. Premieres: 10 p.m. July 9.

* CBS' "The Bridge." I haven't seen it yet, but it's a product of the partnership that brought "Flashpoint" south from Canada and stars Aaron Douglas ("Battlestar Galactica") as a cop who becomes head of the police union and sets out to clean up corruption. Premieres: 8 p.m. July 10.

* A&E's "The Glades." The cop shows just keep on coming, and this is one of the lighter, brighter ones, though the woman found decapitated in a creek at the top of the first episode might not agree. Australian actor Matt Passmore stars as a Chicago homicide detective who ends up in a small Florida town after his captain shoots him for thinking - apparently erroneously - that he'd slept with the man's wife. Premieres: 10 p.m. July 11.

* TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles." Angie Harmon ("Law & Order," "Women's Murder Club") and Sasha Alexander ("NCIS") star as police detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles in this odd-couple procedural based on the Tess Gerritsen thrillers. Lorraine Bracco plays Harmon's mother. (Ouch.) Premieres: 10 p.m. July 12.

* USA's "Covert Affairs." Not only does Piper Perabo look an awful lot like Jennifer Garner, but "Covert Affairs" looks a bit like "Alias" - but maybe a version for people like me who found the actual "Alias" too complicated to follow before the first season was even half over.

Here's hoping that doesn't happen with "Covert Affairs," which stars Perabo as a promising CIA trainee who gets sent up to the majors before school's even out for reasons that may not be clear to her for some time. Not only is Perabo a hoot as the ridiculously gifted Annie Walker, but the rest of the cast is great, too, including Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett as two of her warring (and married) bosses, "Ugly Betty's" Christopher Gorham as a blind colleague who befriends her and the endlessly versatile Anne Dudek ("Big Love," "House," "Mad Men") as the out-of-the-loop sister who lets Annie live in her guesthouse. Premieres: 10 p.m. July 13.

* Starz's "The Pillars of the Earth." The premium cable network, which has been a buying spree lately, acquired the U.S. rights to this eight-hour miniseries based on Ken Follett's best-seller about the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. I haven't watched it yet, but it stars Ian McShane ("Deadwood"), Rufus Sewell ("Eleventh Hour") and Matthew Macfadyen ("Little Dorrit"). They had me at McShane. Premieres: 10 p.m. July 23.

Some other possible appointments for your DVR this month:

Syfy's "Warehouse 13" returns, 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Syfy's "Eureka" returns, 9 p.m. July 9.

TNT's "The Closer" returns, 9 p.m. July 12.

USA's "White Collar" returns, 9 p.m. July 13.

AMC's "Mad Men" returns, 10 p.m. July 25.

TBS' "My Boys" returns, 10 p.m. July 25.

Lifetime's "Project Runway" returns (now 90 minutes long), 9 p.m. July 29.

MTV's "Jersey Shore" (sigh) returns, 10 p.m. July 29.

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.